29 years ago, a group of Calgarians got together and, realizing that there were kids in their community going without food, started making lunches – a few hundred a day – and got them into the hands of kids who needed them.  

 From that inauspicious beginning has grown an incredible community – a community of hundreds of people who work in a network, making lunches all over our city and putting them in the hands of hungry kids in 224 schools every day. We call them heroes, those who give their time, money, energy, and hearts to making sure that kids they don’t know have what they need to be healthy.  

Today, as we settle into the 2019-2020 school year, we are providing a healthy lunch for 4,700 kids every school day. This number has grown every year for the past 5 years, and fortunately, this community continues to grow too. The heroes continue to show up, in ways big and small, every day – and they create a massive impact. These lunches nourish kids’ bodies, and they give them a connection to the community around them, to a caring adult who gives them the food they need, to a group of friends they can share a meal with. 

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing some exciting ways that you can be part of this community to feed and care for hungry kids. These are opportunities to create meaning, to be part of something that has an impact far beyond one lunch or one day. Opportunities to change the lives of 4,700 kids who don’t have a lunch at school in our city, our community. 

For today, we say thank you. Thank you for showing up to feed kids who would otherwise go hungry. Thank you for noticing the need and responding to it. Thank you for taking action in a meaningful way, for using what you know and what you have to make a difference. There are 4,700 kids in our city, every day, who are grateful for it.